Mobile phones, 13.03.2024, 09:30 AM
WhatsApp has introduced a number of options in recent years to strengthen the security of the platform and users. So on WhatsApp you can share private photos and videos with friends or family without worrying that they will forward them to others. To further enhance user privacy on its platform, WhatsApp is now introducing screenshot blocking for WhatsApp profile pictures.
Although WhatsApp has not yet officially announced the introduction of this new feature, it has been tested since February. As Android Police reports, some users have noticed that they cannot take screenshots of their contacts' profile pictures on WhatsApp in the latest stable version of the application. WhatsApp displays an error message on such attempts saying that the screenshot cannot be taken due to application limitations. On some phones it is still possible to take a screenshot, but the image is blank.
Blocking screenshots for profile pictures appears to be enabled by default, as there is no option to turn it off on users' devices where the feature is already available. However, that might change once WhatsApp officially releases the feature. Note that you can take a screenshot of the mini popup that appears when you tap a contact's picture from the chat list.
Of course, you can always take a picture with another phone, or use WhatsApp Web or the desktop app to take a screenshot of someone's picture from your computer. Still, this WhatsApp feature should make it harder to compromise privacy. For maximum privacy, you can hide your WhatsApp profile picture from everyone by going to Settings > Privacy > Profile Picture.
Considering the rise of fraudsters on WhatsApp, blocking screenshots for profile pictures is a welcome change.